Associate Editor Brandon Turkus gives his immediate first impressions from behind the wheel of the 2016 Land Rover Range Rover diesel.
TranscriptBRANDON TURKUS: Hey, Autoblog. This is associate editor Brandon Turkus, and I am in the new Land Rover Range Rover TDV6. That is the diesel model. And I am going to give you my first impressions. I've literally just got in the car. I haven't started yet. I haven't adjusted anything. But I'm gonna drive it home and give you an idea of just what the Range Rover is like with the diesel engine. So I'll start it up.
[ELECTRONIC DINGING]
Sounds like a diesel. Just get my seat adjusted. Heated steering wheel because it's a frosty 13 degrees in Detroit today. There we go. Put on our seat belt, of course.
First thing I'm noticing is that we don't have any kind of sport mode on the train response system. You know, it's not the supercharged engine. Doesn't have the dynamic options or anything like that, so it's not going to be quite a sporting drive. But then again, it's a diesel. About 440 pount feet of torque, give or take a couple, so we will see what is what.
[REAR BACKUP ALERT SOUNDING CONSTANTLY]
No, I'm not about to hit anything. It's just super sensitive. OK, let's go. It certainly sounds like a diesel when you're just cruising around, which I guess is to be expected. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not uncouth or unpleasant. This is the first diesel that Land Rover's sold in America in years, and years, and years. And actually, to be entirely honest, I'm not sure if they've ever sold a diesel here. Be something for me to research.
So pulling out of the Autoblog offices and on to lovely Woodward Avenue. We're in Birmingham right now, so it's a little bit of a ritzy area of town. Just turn around here and then we'll give it some pedal and see how she responds. Well, actually, I can't because there's a red light up there. There we go. Green now.
So if you were worried about there not being a lot of exhaust noise, that doesn't seem to be an issue. It's very, very clear that there's some power under the hood, based just on the sound. It's not like the supercharged V8 where it's constantly barking and screaming at you every time you go near the pedal, but off the line, like you know, really digging into the gas, it definitely makes some noise. It's not a bad thing, though.
See if we can actually get a little bit of cruising so can hear what it's like when you're just toodling about at a reasonable speed. We have the ZF eight-speed automatic here, which is easily one of the best transmissions in the game right now. And it doesn't sound that bad. It's quiet at speed. We're spinning at under 1,500 RPMs right now. The red line looks to be about 4,900, 4,800, somewhere around there.
We got some open space so-- yeah. Transmission drops gears really, really well, which is to be expected. We'll put it into sport mode. You don't get any of the fun lights and cameras-- or lights and changing to red gauges and all that stuff that you get in some of the models, but-- and the downshifts don't feel much quicker.
Slow down. We'll put it into manual mode. So we're in third gear. quick on the upshifts, which is good. Always want to see that. Switching back into full automatic mode now. And put it in the normal drive, and we'll see just how she feels when we're just cruising around town. Doing about 50 miles an hour right now, just a little bit faster than traffic around me, so you'll see me doing a lot of lane changing and whatnot.
But all in all, it feels really, really good. We've been waiting for Land Rover to bring a diesel engine over for quite some time. It's kind of like the Jeep Wrangler thing, where a diesel is just a really natural fit for the vehicle. And you know, they've sold the TDV6 Range Rover in Europe for years, and years, and years, but it feels like it'll fit in well here, even with all the stuff going on with Volkswagen's diesel scandal.
Whether consumers will be receptive to it, I don't really know. If I were certain of that, I'd probably be somewhere making a lot more money than I am now and getting paid to do all sorts of fun product planning stuff. But all in all, it's nice. You know? You get more tire noise than anything, which is kind of what I'm hearing right now, rather than engine noise, so it's not bad.
You really don't need to dig into the pedal too much to get a response from the transmission. And it doesn't want to kick the revs up. This engine seems very, very happy playing in the lower part of the rev range, which is to be expected. It's a diesel engine. But it's good to know that even with a vehicle as big of as a Range Rover, you don't really need to work this engine too hard to get it to respond to you, and do what you want, and get you up to speed.
Love to get you to a red light so I can just show you guys right off the line how it behaves, but it seems that Detroit's traffic is not going to cooperate with me. But look for more on that the Range Rover TDV6. As I drive it along, I'll be showing you some other cool stuff. And we'll even jump under the hood, and you can poke around under there and see just what it looks like under there. I'm guessing it'll be a lot of plastic platting, which isn't terribly exciting. But you know, I'll try and get outside the car and give you some diesel-y engine noise and you can see what's what. Enjoy.
At CES 2024, John Deere showed off its new autonomous tractor technology, which allows farmers to till their fields without being in the cab or paying much attention at all, really. By utilizing an app, the farmer can stop and start the tractor, respond to potential hindrances ahead, adjust speeds …
BMW Remote Valet is an experimental system that allows for your car to be remotely operated by a driver using video screens and remote controls not unlike those used for racing simulators. It uses existing hardware in the car, including forward and reverse cameras, as well as those for the …
Autoblog rode shotgun in Subaru Motorsports’ new American Rally Association (ARA) car, team driver Brandon Semenuk testing the new entry before the Ojibwe Forests Rally in Minnesota. Based on the latest WRX chassis, the turbocharged 2.0-liter boxer four “only” makes about 320 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque, but packs …
A spy photographer managed to capture video of a Ram TRX prototype with light camouflage. Unlike the one that's winding up production, this one has an exhaust note that suggests it has a version of the Hurricane twin-turbo inline-6 under the hood. The Hurricane engines are already found in the …
The Chevrolet Silverado 1500 ZR2 is new for 2023, and so is the AEV Bison package from American Expedition Vehicles. The ZR2 off-road trim starts with features like 33-inch Goodyear Wrangler tires, 11.2 inches of ground clearance, and Multimatic DSSV dampers. The Bison adds even more rugged equipment to the …
The new Porsche 718 Spyder RS has a unique roof design designed to be light as possible for performance purposes and compact as possible since something bigger wouldn't fit on top of the taller Spyder RS engine. The solution, demonstrated by senior editor James Riswick, is complicated to say the …
Bring earplugs! Seriously. Have a listen to the screaming 4.0-liter flat-six in the 2024 Porsche 718 Spyder RS, which has an extra set of air intakes located just over the driver and passengers’ shoulders. It’s even louder than it seems in this video, with our meter showing a peak of …
The new Porsche 718 Spyder RS has a unique roof design designed to be light as possible for performance purposes and compact as possible since something bigger wouldn't fit on top of the taller Spyder RS engine. The solution, demonstrated by senior editor James Riswick, is complicated to say the …
Bring earplugs! Seriously. Have a listen to the screaming 4.0-liter flat-six in the 2024 Porsche 718 Spyder RS, which has an extra set of air intakes located just over the driver and passengers’ shoulders. It’s even louder than it seems in this video, with our meter showing a peak of …
The 2024 Mercedes GLE 63 S Coupe is a hot luxury crossover, with its twin-turbocharged V8 producing a hearty 603 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. It’ll do 0-60 in just 3.7 seconds. Though it’s also quite comfortable, you’ll still work up a mighty thirst piloting it down your favorite …
The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander is the brand’s newer, bigger three-row crossover. It has a lot of space for passengers, their cargo and their beverages. It’s got a near-excessive amount of cupholders, but can any of them hold an oversized water bottle like a 32-ounce Nalgene? Take a look inside …
Want an affordable small crossover that looks and feels good, might even impress your passengers, and won’t make your eyes go cross while configuring one online? Buick’s got a new one for you, and it’s pretty slick. The 2024 Buick Envista starts below $25,000, and in a world of rampant …
We have before us the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV RST, which is expected to release later this year with 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque, and a range of 400 miles. That’s a lot of time between stops at the charging station, and we’re going to get mighty thirsty …
